7 
In Massachusetts fifty years ago a Mr. Harrington, blacksmith was the leading man 
in Boston. Besides his trade and as a branch of it, he took charge of all sick animals 
—his specialty was Theory and Practice. His workman John Davis, who I under¬ 
stand is yet living, was the surgeon, and many a Sunday morning found him fleams 
and bledding stick in hand busy practicing venesection. Sometimes, however difficult 
cases would be brought to the consultation, the Physician and Surgeon would be at a 
loss; but then they would send the patient to Roxbury, where a Dr. Brown kept a 
large infirmary for the purpose. 
In Pennsylvania we have records older than those obtained from either New York 
or Massachusetts. In 1818, we find registered by D. Caldwell, Clerk of the Eastern Dis¬ 
trict of Pennsylvania, that “on the 23d day of June, 1818, James Carver hath deposited in 
“this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words tollow- 
“ing: The Farrier’s Magazine or Archives of Veterinary Science containing the Anatomy, 
“Physiology and Pathology of the horse and other domestic quadrupeds, and compiled 
“from the lectures, and praciice of Veterinary Colleges of London, France, Germany, 
“Russia and British India—by J ames Carver, Veterinary Surgeon, Master of Equitation 
“and corresponding Member of the London Veterinary Medical Society and the College 
of India.” The title of the work and those of the author tell of the value of the whole 
subject, which besides an appeal to the people of Pennsylvania, to the public at large, 
a dedication and advertisement, contains a little over a hundred pages of matter of no 
interest. At the end of this work as an appendix, Mr. J. Carver makes the announce¬ 
ment of a series of books which he will publish, on stable duty, on food, on labour, on 
epidemic diseases, and many others, which if printed have not come to my notice. 
Mr. I. Mitchener, who must occupy a very first place amongst the Veterinarians of 
Pennsylvania, he having been there for many years, nearly fifty, and by his ability being 
considered as one of the leading men of that State, must well remember the days of 
James Carver. 
In New Jei'sey, we know of nothing pertaining to Veterinary Medicine beyond the 
fact that no regular graduate could be found there until within the last two or three 
years. 
In all probability this general condition prevailed all over the Country, and it is 
to be supposed that with a few exceptions, the practice of Veterinary Medicine was left 
in the hands of ignorant men, stablemen or blacksmiths, and that the absurd and nonsen¬ 
sical notions which we even find in our own days, were to a great extent the treatment 
of.those times. Who amongst us has not heard of the swenied shoulder, of the chest, 
founder; of the worm of the dog’s tail, of the horn ailment, etc., etc. 
But that state of affairs could certainly not last forever on our continent; for us 
the live stock is not only a beast representing so much capital, he is one of our fancies, 
of our distraction, he is one of our pets, I may say, and generous as we are, if not for 
science but for humanity, little by little the need of the Veterinarians of education 
has slowly been gaining ground, and there we find Massachusetts, the first at the 
head of the onward movement. 
In 1835, C. M. Wood had arrived in Boston, and there by his activity, his en¬ 
ergy, soon after working as an assistant to some smith, raised himself to a high 
position amongst his co-citizens as a Veterinary practitioner. In 1849, G. H. Dadd, 
neither a graduate of Human or Veterinary Medicine (at least 1 find no rfecord of 
these degrees,) started himself as Veterinary Surgeon in Boston advertising lists of 
medicines for sale. In 1851, he started the publication of a Veterinary Journal, which 
